Windows Virtualization Using WINE in Linux

Light resource usage. Stable. Fast.

WINE Is Not an Emulator, say its developers. It functions as a translator between Windows and Linux, with a virtual "drive C" located in the user's home directory. It is very fast. So much so that most Windows applications run at higher speed in Wine, and they resemble native Linux in appearance. In other words, one starts up individual Windows applications the same way as native Linux ones: through either shell commands, clicking a panel icon, or clicking an icon in the Kicker / start menu.

On my system, installing wine was as easy as downloading it in my normal package manager. Configuring Wine was a matter of going into the start menu and bringing up the wine configuration program. It is a sort of "Control Panel" for setting up the graphics, sound, and other features. It offers to resemble various versions of Windows, and I chose XP. Actually using it was simple: clicking on the executable installers for my Windows software. Everything worked as though I was in XP! There was one minor difference in that the fonts were somewhat different looking. After installing the "msttcorefonts" package, things looked very much more normal. One program, a flight management system trainer, used special fonts that didn't fully translate, though it was close enough for me to use.

WINE running Internet Explorer and Powerpoint within Linux.

WINE running multiple windows applications Linux..